For those of who have been playing for a long time, it's no secret that Runescape isn't as popular as it used to be. At this point in time, there are usually 50 - 60k players on RS3 during prime time and 10 - 20k on RS07, compared to 120 - 150k of just a few years ago.

I have been out of the game for a few years now, and I want to ask those who are still regularly playing what they think caused the decline of interest in Runescape. I also want to know people's reasons for leaving the game who no longer play (see poll).

What had the biggest impact?

Better (in particular, free) games coming out?
People not liking the direction the game was heading?
Game becoming too easy and people "finishing"?
How much of an impact did EOC have (i.e was there a noticeable decline in numbers after EOC)?
Are there other things I'm missing?

Discuss!

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For me, it was just the realization that I was repetitively clicking for no real goal whatsoever. RuneScape was not going to improve my real life in any way, and I was wasting hours. Also, it got too complicated for me. I am about knowing *everything,* and I remember with the introduction of Summoning, it was the first time I was like, "I can't really keep up with this game." Sad.

Also, screw the new combat system. I only ever trained defense along with ranged, so now I have an inflated combat level even though my attack and strength are pitiful. Meh. I don't really play anyway though.


Edit: Apparently "a.n.a.l" is a bad word? Homophobic much?

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Ooh ooh ah ah!

Combination of the direction that it was heading (especially when the Gowers left) and other MMO's coming out I think were the biggest factors.

Edit- After giving it a little more thought, I think they're measures to curb bot useage also played a huge factor. The trade limits was also a big one, and on top of all that, the biggest thing after Game Direction that killed it (in my opinion) was the fact that they removed PKing from the Wilderness.

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Its hard for a game to stay popular for over a decade. Even if they had done everything right that still might have happened.

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Environmental graphic updates are wicked. But I hate 'cosmetic overrides'. There are so many pieces of equipment in the game that they are already difficult to identify.

SOF and solomons are bad too. I dont like getting things for no effort.

New combat is dumb. I dont do much combat, but I did have a few pKing accounts that are useless.

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For me, EoC. I liked it at first but as I played it more, I started to hate it.

It looked good on paper. But when you put it with Java, the game ticks make it feel sluggish and it got REALLY annoying after awhile. Another aspect is the way it handles AoE attacks. It's terrible. To do an AoE attack, you're required to have a target. As soon as that target dies, the AoE attack breaks completely.

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Admittedly I haven't tried EOC but based on what I've read about it, it seems like they tried to change the combat system to make it similar to other mmorpgs. The irony being that now they just have a crapper version of what other combat-oriented mmorpgs offer, which seems to have had a large impact on their popularity, and their once unique (whether you enjoyed it or not) system has now vanished.

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Guild Wars 2

~ Kudzu, Dreamer, Frostfang, Eternity, Flameseeker Prophecies ~
~ Nevermore, H.O.P.E, Moot, Incinerator, Meteorlogicus, Howler ~
~ WvW Rank 964, sPvP Rank 75, 25,437 AP ~

When I quit RS I posted here saying why. It was to do with the creators (Paul + Andrew) selling their shares to Mark Gerhard and investors. This lead to updates being made to simply profit the investors and not really please the players. The one I'm thinking of mostly is the spin wheel thing.
Jagex just became a company that wanted money, not to make a good game for their players.

Even if that hadn't affected my opinion of the game. I dislike that the game has become similar WoW. Runescape stood out of the crowd by having combat and skills. You could choose whatever you wanted, rather than just grinding combat or grinding a single skill. The interaction with other players and communities was fun. But a lot of smaller communities died out and Jagex tried making their forums into what third party forums were.

I also REALLY disliked that Jagex took away their rants forum, they clearly realised that their updates were becoming subpar and couldn't handle the abuse.

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As people pointed out when RS07 was initially announced, I think the releasing of RS07 is pretty indicative of this too.

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Guild Wars 2

~ Kudzu, Dreamer, Frostfang, Eternity, Flameseeker Prophecies ~
~ Nevermore, H.O.P.E, Moot, Incinerator, Meteorlogicus, Howler ~
~ WvW Rank 964, sPvP Rank 75, 25,437 AP ~

Other.

The new UI combined with getting the Completionist Cape meant that I had little to do and an extremely complicated system to do it in.

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I still play but at a lesser capacity than a few years ago.

The game has really become something pathetic. I'm talking about the BTS videos, thinly veiled 'player content', and bogus updates.

Simon hit the nail right on the head. This game isn't a game anymore, it's become a business model. And the new head honchos are going to wring as much profit as they can from it, then ditch the game. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if *tomorrow* they pulled the plug on RS, said " you" to us all and scampered off with their bags of cash.

And I'll probably retain membership through it all. There are things that are major annoyances to me, but there is still fun to be had on RS. As long as there's fun to be had, I'll probably be around.

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A combination as well for me. Played other games, and didnt like how RS had microtransactions and became more and more like other MMORPGs. RS was uniue, and it doesnt seem that way anymore.

I just came back, and I can't stress this enough. If you see through all the bullshit (buying more spins on the wheel, and the other micro-transactions) there's still a lot of enjoyment to get out of this game. I've been having a blast! Granted a 4 year break would probably do that to any game, but still, it's still fun!

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Awesome sig made by Goten!

It is still fun. I remember being away for months in the past and even woodcutting in f2p seemed fun. Some huge changes like how we each shape the future is interesting, but i hope it's different for everyone like quest choices

I also really dislike how they keep deleting/revamping old quests.

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I agree. They shouldn't have deleted old quest just because of new standards.

For me, it was the fact that I didn't have any more friends to play with. First it was my RSC clan that died, then the Falador pseudo-clan, then the Order of Cabbage, and then my World 7 woodcutting friends. There were a few other groups of friends sprinkled in-between, but those were the big ones.

I met quite a few good people over the years, but we all grew apart over time. I had the most fun playing the game when I was skilling, PKing, or just chatting amongst other players. All that's gone now, and nowadays whenever I log into the game I feel like the richest noob ever.

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I forgot about how the games was getting easier part. Our old hard trained skills and accomplishments aren't impressive, and more people are getting the max and completionist capes, including cheaters. It's not fun just trying to get things done instead of just having fun. Personally i ran out of goals and while the best capes look and are good, i just dont have the patience to get them.

There is an absurd number of people maxed at the moment. More than I've ever seen before, and I'd say the longer than usual gap between skills is offset by Dungeoneering requiring 8x the exp to max.

Though, I think that much was obvious considering Cam actually trained skills like Runecrafting and Agility.

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Guild Wars 2

~ Kudzu, Dreamer, Frostfang, Eternity, Flameseeker Prophecies ~
~ Nevermore, H.O.P.E, Moot, Incinerator, Meteorlogicus, Howler ~
~ WvW Rank 964, sPvP Rank 75, 25,437 AP ~

Another f2p quest from the past is removed and replaced. It's what i dislike these days. They could have made new quests with the signature heroes. And the story on obtaining silverlight was good enough before, i thought